All-county selections are tough

Thursday

Apr 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM

The Dispatch will publish its annual All-County basketball teams in Friday's edition. As usual, the selection process was extremely tough this season.

Jason Queen

The Dispatch will publish its annual All-County basketball teams in Friday's edition. As usual, the selection process was extremely tough this season.There are several things that factor into choosing our all-county team. First and foremost, we want this team to be extremely prestigious. Not to belittle anyone or any group, but we ran the NCPreps.com all-state team selections from the county last week. The players from our area who were selected are all outstanding players who had exceptional years. But I think putting 20 players on an all-anything team kind of waters it down a little bit. The all-state team should be special, and I mean extremely special. Selecting 20 players, when only five are on the court at one time, is a bit much, in my opinion.Another factor is team success. Now, this makes things a little more tricky. South Davidson's boys, North Davidson's boys and girls, and several others, suffered through very difficult seasons. That does not mean, however, that there weren't any all-county caliber players on those teams. I felt North's Lauren Ramsey was one of the best players I saw all year; she just picked a bad year to have a good year. Her team struggled in the Central Piedmont Conference, and girls' basketball was phenomenal in Davidson County. That was evident by the fact that three teams advanced to the regionals, and South Davidson's girls came within one win of joining them.The girls' selection process was the toughest. With Ledford, Thomasville and East Davidson in the regionals, we would have been justified in selecting two players from each of those teams. But then, how can you not pick someone from Lexington, which was in the hunt for the CCC championship all year, or Central Davidson, which was in the same boat. The Spartans could have been the CCC's No. 2 seed if they weren't upset in the conference tournament, and Lexington could have gotten that No. 2 seed if it hadn't lost to East in the tournament title game.Those three teams that advanced to the regionals didn't advance to that point with just one top-tier player. Thomasville could have easily had three all-county players, as could Ledford. So, the selection process – at some point – becomes a process of elimination within a team. At that point, we have the luxury of looking at some conference awards that were handed out, or recognition players received from other organizations. If only one player makes all-state from a team, it's hard to select someone else from that player's team for the all-county team.Then, it's just a matter of what we've seen. Sometimes, a team has three or four players who are all about the same. One persons' selection may ultimately boil down to which player the coach recommends the highest; that may come down to who is a better team leader, one player's defensive impact that doesn't show up in the stat sheet, or other factors.Ultimately, we hope selection to the all-county team is a huge honor to the players who were selected. There are plenty of girls who were just outside the top six, and it was very difficult to leave those players off the team. I would name those players, but I don't want to kill the suspense for tomorrow.On a side note, the all-county photo session is a good place to pick up some knowledge from area coaches. The Hatfield twins, who were at South Davidson their first two years before transferring to Davie County this season, are on the move again. One all-county player said he had heard Davie's entire starting five from this season was transferring. The other twins, who are bound for N.C. State, are supposedly headed to Oak Hill, and the center is headed somewhere else as well. This is a fishy situation, and I feel bad for the War Eagles' coaches, fans, and student body, if this comes to fruition. I have written about students transferring within Davidson County in the past, but it has nothing to do with which school kids leave or where they end up. It just seems, in general, that the sense of community that existed 20 years ago no longer exists.Coaches have mentioned a potential NCHSAA rule change that would require kids to sit out athletics for one year if they transfer without moving residences. I'm not naïve, I know people will just doctor an address to change schools and continue to play sports. But I think the NCHSAA needs to do something to slow down what is becoming a common problem.Jason Queen can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 220, or jason.queen@the-dispatch.com.